To think all GP support staff are rude and evil!

[higgle]

Grr. Just come back from my GPs. On Monday I telephoned to ask for a GP apointment before Friday, the receptionist gleefully told me there were none. She then insisted there was only one nurse's appointment all week free and that was in my working day. When I said that was not convenient she moaned and groaned and fond me another at 6pm today. When I go;t there the nurse told me the receptionist should have asked me to make a AP's appointment, then proceeded to give me advice which contravenes the NICE guidance on the subject. When I pointed this out she was very stroppy with me. Why are receptionsists so rude and unhelpful? and why do nurses, who want to assume a professonal role never have up to date clinical evidence to support the nonsense they spout at you! And lastly why did they tell me they had no appointments when one of the lovely GPs came out ofhis room and announced to the receptionist that he was pleased he could go home early as it was quiet!!!

How entertaining people like Higgle and Sultan are. They give our reception staff something to talk about in their coffee breaks - "Did you hear that appalling woman shouting abuse at me this morning...?" etc. They commiserate with each other and have a lighthearted competition about who had the rudest or most unreasonable patient to deal with that day - a sort of war-time spirit.

Of course by the time the abusive unpleasant patient (and I always know when they have behaved abusively because it is flagged up next to their name on my computer screen to warn me in advance that they are being arsey) gets to see me (their GP), they are 'absolutely lovely'.

Funny, that...

Ooo do they do that too Iwant?

I work in school so do similar.

Some MNers need to realise that the frontline staff at the GPs and at school shouldn't be made an enemy of. We can be very useful you know.

The ones at the local surgery are lovely. Just wanted that to go down on record.

And yes, GetOrf, I think I may be living in your parallel world too.

Most of the GPs at my local practice are amazing and I am very grateful for the NHS.

That said I think that one or two crap health professionals can cause unneccesary trauma (and I do not count ringing for GP appt as trauma!).

I was recently in hospital for tfmr and the attitudes it a handful of staff caused huge trauma (have been told by bereavement cousellor that the experiences compunded original trauma). One nurse prattled on about whether people judged me, the specialist midwife got me to sign funeral forms within minutes of raising the issue with me, the bereavement office told me I could 'pick up my specimen' if I was unhappy with funeral arrangements made by hospital.

One nurse however made an enormous difference by being kind, respectful and understanding. I don't agree with the HCP bashing but think it's important to acknowledge that having a bad day in those professions has a bigger impact than most.

Disclaimer - I am still not of the soundest mind, so feel free to ingots self indulgent sharing!

*ignore

Unfortunately the 'support' staff are always the ones in the firing line for abusive behaviour.
There was a situation with a patient in theatre and the family took all their anger and frustration out on the nurses in intensive care (who were nothing but professional, caring and polite) This behaviour was never properely dealt with because the medical staff were just relieved that it wasn't them being shouted at -even though they were the cause of the inital situation.....(am being vague with obvious reasons)

If you have an issue with a professional, regardless of which discipline, complain. Retraining is always an option - rudeness and poor performance is not.

Higgle - rural glos you say? No private dr or you'd register with one like a shot? Here you go love I've found 110 private drs in glos for you. So you can put your money where your mouth is and piss off and stop annoying your lovely nhs staff.

www.whatclinic.com/doctors/uk/gloucestershire

I've usually found that if you are polite and respectful to people, they respond in the same manner.

YABU to suggest that all staff in a surgery are "rude and evil"

whilst i would like to think that being nice to people elicits a similar response, this isnt always the case. When i moved house and had to move surgeries, i went through the list and called all those where i was 'in area'. only two surgeries could take me and i chose the one i did because the receptionist was lovely. from personal experience i know a rude receptionist will wind me up and be counter productive- fast, efficient, polite and professional.

Two years later, i have zero complaints with the center. the receptionists (1 male, 1 female) are fab. they remember my daughters name. the GPs are great. We are not often there, but when we are its always a positive experience.

sorry that you dont have the same experience... maybe swap surgeries?

Vivalebeaver etc. Where did it say in my posts I was rude to anyone - or abusive ? I was extremely polite - always am, but I got obnoxious behaviour back. I think I'll raise it with the lead GP when I see him again, as he is always very kind ( saw DH as an emergency when he had a sore throat before a long charity walk and sponsored him £20!) The Health Authority also do patient surveys from time to time. I'm afraid the list of "private doctors" isn't correct - a lot of the establishments on the list are not GPs, GPs wont take even private patients out of their area ( no GP in Forest Of Dean with take someone 30 miles away) and the two I tried that would be possible contenders said they didn't take private patients after all. I do know of one practive that does - homeopathic specialities etc. there - but their list is always full and they say we are outside area. Basically here we have a choice of 3 GPs surgeries, the one that refused to attend my home birth, the one we go to at present and one that is a sole practitioner.

I was saddened to see criticism of patients who have a little knowledge on here, even if it is internet gleaned ( which mine, in the main is not) There were reports in some newspapers last week of a young wman who was sure she had DVT but a nurse insisted it was just a muscular pain, she went home and complained to her husband about being "fobbed off" the next weekshe collapsed and died of DVT, she was only in her 20s.

If you went to a solicitor and asked advice they would expect to be able to explain on what evidence/statute/case law they had formulated the advice. If healthcare professionals give advice they too should be able to back it up with abit more than "because I say so".

You should contact your local Patient Advisory Liaison Service (PALS) before you take it up with the lead GP. As some of the posts above show, staff can be extremely vengeful - you will need PALS at your back to protect you. And get a copy of your medical records (for about a tenner) to see what they have written down about you - then you can get PALS to help you get any nasty remarks removed.

Higgle - where in my post did I say you were rude? I don't believe I did.

Though you are being rude about them now.

There is a huge difference between being 'vengeful' and being defensive of your profession, sultan. Can you provide me with an example of a nurse on this thread being vengeful please?

at vengeful

watch out Sultan, there are nasty nurses waiting down very dark alley specifically to attack you and wreak havoc on your family

raaaaaaaghhhhhh

oops, didn't mean to scare you

AFAIK nobody objects to patients being informed or using the internet OP unless they come in thinking that their half an hour on the internet makes them an expert whose knowledge overrides the years of studying and work experience that the practitioner has. Again it comes back to attitude.

You point out and we all know of cases where a patient may be wrongly diagnosed, in one case it happened to a friend who had seen a GP who is also a friend but you have to remember nobody is infallible and you conveniently overlook the number of times we reassure patients that they haven't got x,y or z that they have wrongly self-diagnosed from the internet.

I have no problem with patients asking me about things they've googled so maybe again it comes back to your attitude of "pointing out" what you think you know better than the professional

In my extensive training, education and practice, nothing is removed from notes- a clarification or patient view is added. That's all. You've not done much to suggest you're attitude towards 'support staff'- i.e. Anyone who's not a doctor- is anything but rude and arrogant to be honest...

Precisely, AF.

Iwantanotherbaby said: "They commiserate with each other and have a lighthearted competition about who had the rudest or most unreasonable patient to deal with that day - a sort of war-time spirit.

"Of course by the time the abusive unpleasant patient (and I always know when they have behaved abusively because it is flagged up next to their name on my computer screen to warn me in advance that they are being arsey) gets to see me (their GP), they are 'absolutely lovely'."

If that's not vengeful, I'd like to know what is. There's certainly strong motivation there to wind up patients to behave as badly as you can get them to - just so you can be one up on your colleagues and be Ms Popular for the day. I'd guess you can get a lot of sympathy and attention too.

Of course, if the patient is genuinely being abusive, then there are guidelines to deal with them professionally. Giggling and gossiping are probably not seen by most people as professional.

Yep, NHS nurses very caring -
" Ann McNeill was labelled a 'drama queen' for gasping in pain when a nurse handled her roughly

The former nurse was called a 'drama queen', left in soiled bed clothes and her own vomit and berated for waking staff at night to ask for a drink.

Her husband said: 'Ann couldn't relate the attitude and actions of some of the nurses with how she had been trained to look after people.

'One night two nurses were hoisting her into bed and one handled her very roughly, knocking her legs. She gasped in pain and the nurse said: "Oh, we've got a drama queen here."

'I remember on one occasion I visited her and found her sitting in a chair with her own vomit all over her clothes.

'It was dried so it seemed as if it must have been left there for some time.

Read more: www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1209334/Revealed-The-cruelty-suffered-1m-elderly-NHS-patients.html#ixzz1Q26xy37V

Harold Shipman

Conrad Murray

Sandeep Kapoor

Nobody's saying it's only nurses.

Hawley Harvey Crippen